


After

by ForeverFlamingFire



Series: Return to England [2]
Category: Robin Hood (BBC 2006)
Genre: F/M, Recovery, Returning Home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-04-03 20:12:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4113439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverFlamingFire/pseuds/ForeverFlamingFire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carter helps Will prepare for his return to England</p>
            </blockquote>





	After

**Author's Note:**

> For the purposes of this story, Marian is still dead, but Carter survived the fight in the season 2 finale

In Carter’s tent, after the burial, Will sat on the slightly raised platform that was Carter’s bed while Carter looked through his bags. Will didn’t question him. The events of the day had exhausted him. Carter raised his head from the trunk, pulling a mass of slightly off-white fabric with a streak of red through it.

“Take this,” said Carter. “It’ll keep you safe on the road.”

Will took the fabric. It unrolled into a Crusader’s tunic and hooded cloak.

“Thank you.”

“I’ve already talked it over with His Majesty,” said Carter. “You can stay here for a few days and recover before you leave. Unless there’s something important at the house you shared with Djaq, you don’t need to return there. Even if there is something important, I can go for you. There’s no need for you to go back to a place you fear so much.”

“You didn’t have to do any of this.”

“But I know Robin, you’re one of his friends and you helped me when I was in England. It’s my turn to return the favor.”

“I…”

“Don’t,” said Carter, cutting Will off. “Rest, Will. You need it.”

Carter removed the Crusader robes from Will’s lap, throwing them across a low stool, then returned to Will’s side. He was pressing Will back when Will winced. Carter looked down.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were injured? That should’ve been the first thing I did when I found you.” Will shrugged. “It was the rush, the grief masking it. You couldn’t tell.” Carter stood again, returning to the bag. He removed a needle, thread and bandages, before returning to Will’s side. Will stripped his shirt, wincing as he lifted his injured arm out. “This is going to hurt,” Carter warned, “I don’t have anything to dull the pain.” Will merely shrugged. “Are you ready?” Another shrug. Carter worked quickly, stitching and bandaging. “You’ll be fine,” he said, knotting off the bandages. Will nodded. Carter threw the unused supplies back in his bag. “Rest, Will. You need it.”

Will nodded. He eased himself back onto the bed. Carter threw a light blanket over him. “I’ll be outside if you need anything.”

“Thank you.”

Carter nodded, then ducked out of the tent, leaving Will to rest.

***

When Will awoke the next morning, the sun was high in the sky, and Carter was back at his side. Will shifted slightly, wincing.

“Careful,” said Carter, giving Will a hand. “You were injured yesterday.”

“I have to return to Bassam’s house. He was good to me and Djaq and he was good to Robin and the rest when they were here.”

“Will…”

“I know you told me I didn’t have to go back, but Bassam deserves more than you or another Crusader telling him what happened to her. Besides, he might attack whoever goes and I’m not going to be responsible for killing one of King Richard’s guards as well.”

“What happened to Djaq wasn’t your fault.”

“Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t.”

“It wasn’t,” said Carter, fiercely. He paused, waiting to see if Will responded immediately. When he didn’t, Carter continued: “You can’t think like that. It’s going to rip you apart.”

Will stayed silent for another moment before speaking again. “I have to say goodbye to Bassam, and then I’m returning to England.”

“You don’t have to. You can stay for another day.”

Will shook his head. “I have to get home. The only place I want to recover from this is in Sherwood surrounded by Robin, Allan and the rest. I don’t think staying in the Holy Land would be good for me.”

“You’re lucky you weren’t injured worse than you were. If you had been I might have had to ask His Majesty for rope.”

"I don’t think he’d go easy on you after tying up a friend of his ex-Captain of the Guard.”

Carter laughed. “Good bye, Will.” He pulled Will into an embrace. “Good luck with everything.”

“And to you,” Will responded.

Carter left. Will walked over to the Crusader robe Carter had pulled out the day before. He rubbed the slightly dirty cloth between his fingers. A slight smile graced his lips. These were his path home.

***

Later that afternoon, dressed in the robes of a Crusader, his weapons in place, Will returned to Bassam’s house. He didn’t bother knocking. He simply entered. He went to the room he and Djaq had once shared. He carefully ignored Djaq’s things, packed the few items of his own, grabbed his bow and arrows from the place he’d stashed them. (Carter had rescued his axes and Saracen sword). He walked out of the room, closing the door.

The sound of the door closing and Will walking down the hall brought Bassam. Will let Bassam follow him outside onto the stoop.

“Will,” said Bassam. Will turned, facing Bassam. “You can stay here. You don’t have to go home.”

“Thank you, Bassam, for your kindness, but there’s nothing left for me here. I may as well return to England and rejoin Robin.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am. Thank you once more for everything. I will never forget what you did for us – for Djaq and I, for Robin, for the rest of my friends. I will remember you fondly.”

“As will I, Will Scarlett.”

Will returned away from Bassam. He lifted the hood of the white Crusader robes, dropping it on his head. He turned away from Bassam and walked away, out into the desert where Carter would meet him with a horse.

***

Carter was waiting where he said he would be. He was mounted and beside him stood another horse.

“I told you I’d be here,” he said.

“You did, I’m only surprised you remembered.”

“If I forgot and someone let it slip to Robin, he’d be angry I forgot one of his friends in the desert.”

Will mounted the horse. “Too right. I wouldn’t want to be on that side of Robin’s temper.”

“Go,” said Carter. “I know how badly you want to reach home as quickly as possible.”

“I do, but thank you again for everything. I’m grateful you found me.”

“I thought you and Djaq had left with Robin. Believe me it was a shock when I first saw you, but then I saw what had happened, and I knew I had to help you.”

“Good bye, Carter. See if you can come back to England soon, yeah?”

“Of course. And when I do, I will make sure to find my way to Sherwood Forest and find you.”

“Keep an eye out. You know how hard we are to spot.”

Carter smiled. “I will return home, Will, and when I do I will find you and Robin and the rest and we can talk about all this, but right now I know there are some men in Sherwood Forest who are going to be very happy to see you.” Carter paused. “Go now, Will Scarlett. Find your friends.”

***

Will rode through the desert, his hood lowered, shielding him from view. He didn’t want to answer questions about why he was riding so fast, why he was ignoring the few people he had passed on the road so far. A member of the English army, dressed the same way as Will, but with chain mail under his tunic, rode past him. Will saw the soldier, smiling at the cross of St. George emblazoned on his tunic, showing harshly against the grey of the rest of the tunic. The soldier nodded as he passed. Will hastily lowered his head, using the long hood to hide his face. He could sense the soldier was curious about him, but Will had spent enough of his outlaw years sneaking into Nottingham Town and the castle there, that he knew how to avoid onlookers. He kept his head down, never looking up, even when he sensed the soldier was trying to figure him out. Will continued on his journey, looking forward to the moment when he could collapse in the warm embrace of the people he had left behind.

***

Will grounded the boat on the English coast. He shifted back the hood of his cloak, which he had worn for the duration of his journey. He jumped out into the shallows, soaking the hem of his soiled Crusader cloak. He pulled the boat the rest of the way up to stop it from washing away, then he sank to the ground. His hands buried in English earth for the first time in many weeks. He knelt over, pressing his lips to the mud. He raised his head, relief flooding through him at being home. He pinched earth between his fingers, smearing it on his cheeks. He grabbed his bag and weapons from the boat, slinging them over his shoulder, not caring about the English mud that smeared over everything he touched. He ran up the bank, onto the road. He didn’t mind having to walk to the next town. He didn’t mind he didn’t have money and barely anything to trade to get a horse to ride into Sherwood Forest. He didn’t mind the only way he was going to get a horse was by stealing, something that had made him cross paths with Robin when he returned home from the Crusades. It looked like stealing was how he was going to returned to Robin as well.


End file.
